Sign Up for a Voice of Our Own

Connect With Us

Transportation

Individuals cannot pursue their personal goals without access to transportation. Since its founding in 1976, CCD has been working to remove obstacles to the mobility of persons with disabilities from the modes of transportation within federal jurisdiction—air, rail, inter-provincial bus, and marine. CCD seeks the adoption of enforceable accessibility regulations for these modes.

Recent Work

In the matter of Delta Airlines Inc. v Gábor Lukács, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) has decided that it is unreasonable for the Canadian Transportation Agency (the “Agency”) to apply a narrow criteria for determining which complaints can be heard. Specifically, the SCC held that such a narrow approach unreasonably prevents public interest groups such as the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (the “CCD”) from bringing complaints forward.

The SCC agreed with the CCD that “to refuse a complaint based solely on the identity of the group bringing it prevents the Agency from hearing potentially highly relevant complaints, and hinders its ability to fulfill the statutory scheme's objective.” The SCC found that the Agency's decision to deny Dr. Lukács' complaint based solely on his identity was unreasonable as it “did not maintain a flexible approach”.

Consistent with the CCD submission, the majority SCC decision held that a more appropriate criteria may be to consider whether the complaint raises a serious issue to be tried.

Of particular note is the Court's recognition that the Agency's decision was flawed as it did not allow those with most at stake to be heard.